FPP 7.2 Released!

[dkulp]

The entire FPP team is proud to announce that FPP 7.2 is now released!   This is mostly just bug fixes found while folks are setting up their shows although there are a few new features.


NOTE: The OS level has NOT changed. It is still 2023-08. However, updating from 7.x to 7.2 does install additional OS packages (mp3gain) and thus would require internet access for that functionality to be installed.

Enhancements

• Added MP3Gain to Audio FileManger to adjust audio levels of selected mp3 files
• Increase maximum number of virtual strings per port from 30 to 100
• Increase Colorlight maximum panel size to 24x24.
• Added PCF8574 channel output
• Reduce boot time on PocketBeagle/BBB by about 15 seconds by not disabling services that are already disabled

Bug Fixes

• Add "Player w/ Multisync" to multisync page filters
• Fix playlist randomization if using Start Playlist command
• Fix problems with null pixels not cutting off pixels of the actually string
• Increase receive socket buffers and process more packets per read to increase reliability for large universe/DDP channel counts
• Fix e1.31/ddp stats table with Bootstrap 5 (three colums)
• Fix restoring Panel Layout and Single Panel Size settings
• Fix Remap output processor when source and destination overlap
• Fix some cases where config.txt/uEnv.txt files could become corrupt adding settings from cape EEPROMS
• Fix problem with fast restart on BBB's causing infinite crash/restart, requiring reboot to fix
• Fix FPPD_STARTED event from firing before some FPP Commands are registered (so FPPD_STARTED can trigger a GPIO Command)
• Fix Port Number String testing to go R->G->B instead of G->R->B
• Fix some undefined variables in the PHP code preventing some sequence API's from working
• Fix some issues on the Multisync page when FPP is proxied from another FPP device
• Make sure the proper .htaccess file is created/updated, particularly from FPP 5.x updates

Installation Instructions
If you have a system running 7.x, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. At that point, a big green "Upgrade" bar should appear on the main status page. Click on that to start the update process. It may take a long time to upgrade. Likely 5-10 minutes. You will need to reboot after the upgrade is complete to finish the upgrade process.

For users of FPP 6.x or older, it is strongly recommended to do a full "OS Level" upgrade or re-image instead of attempting to upgrade directly from any older FPP version. There are several new features that will not work if an OS level upgrade is not done. There are two ways to do so:

• Re-image - you can backup your 5.x/6.x configuration, create a new image, and restore the configuration.
• In-place upgrade - this requires you to have FPP 5.5 and all the updates for 5.5 or FPP 6.3 already running on the device. Download the appropriate "fppos" file to your computer. Make sure the file extension is still fppos (some browsers will rename it). Upload it to the "File Manager" on the FPP instance. Then go to the about page. Under the normal "Manual Upgrade", a new Upgrade OS button should appear. Click it and wait a LONG time. When done, it should reboot into 7.2. At that point, go to the Uploads tab of the FPP File Manager and delete the fppos file. An alternate method to do an in-place upgrade if you are only upgrading one device AND the device has internet connectivity, is to select the 7.2 fppos (download) file and then click on the Upgrade OS button. This will download the fppos file and then install it as mentioned above. This will still take a LONG time and if you are doing this on more than one device, you will essentially be downloading the same file multiple times so is probably not the best way.

NOTE: In SOME cases, the reboot will fail due to library replacement. In that case, a power cycle may be required to get it back up and running.[/list]

Selecting an image
For Raspberry Pi series including Pi B, Pi B+, Pi 3, Pi 3+, Pi 4 and Pi Zero use this image

https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/download/7.2/FPP-v7.2-Pi.img.zip
For Beaglebone Black, Beaglebone Green, PocketBeagle, and Beaglebone Green Gateway use this image

https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/download/7.2/FPP-v7.2-BBB.img.zip

[MikeKrebs]

Did the upgrade tonight with no problems.

[james-s]

Just curious.  Was FPP 7.1 released then pulled soon after?   I have 7.1 installed and followed a link previously but the current link at the top of the forum current points to 7.0.

With 7.1 withdrawn and 7.2 released, I am proceeding to upgrade to 7.2.

[JonD]

Was FPP 7.1 released then pulled soon after?

FPP 7.1 was not pulled.  You can still download it if you wanted to.

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[algerdes]

As always, it is great to see that FPP is still moving forward.

I have a couple of players that are "out in the field" with no access to internet or even digital cell service.  I can copy the downloaded update (such as Pi-7.2_2023- 08)  onto a laptop and then out to these devices and upload/install.  But how does someone get the interim versions (such as e35c0df) to apply to those devices?  I do not see any links for them.

Thanks for any help you can send my way.

[jnealand]

I would consider having a 2nd uSD card.  Just make sure you do a backup of the settings to something you can restore from out in the field. You can build it in your workshop and do a restore of the settings.  I still keep a small nano USB stick in all my Pis just to use for backing up the settings.  Comes in handy for doing upgrades at times and in case of failures.  I also use this method for upgrading a couple of PiZws that I use.  FPP will automatically adjust for the correct Pi the stick is put in.

Assuming you get cell service in the park, you might also consider using your phone as a hotspot or acquiring a portable hotspot from a cell phone service.  You could just buy service for a dedicated hotspot for the show season to keep expenses down.

[algerdes]

Thanks Jim.  Unfortunately digital cell service (required to get to the internet) isn't available in the back half of the park since they moved the closest cell tower.

There should be a way to get those "interim" upgrades and take them on media such as a USB drive, or something, to the site.  If not, I'll just work at the last version that could be downloaded.

[bpos]

Just upgraded to 7.2.2. Will report back.

[cmndr brain]

I just upgraded to v7.2 which seems to be working just fine on my 2 RPi's.  I am, however, having a problem w/ my BBB Matrix.
The problem is, on my BBB, it doesn't find the Edimax USB Wifi adapter.  I've downloaded v7.2 from the link above and no wifi.  I then upgraded FPP via the about menu link to v7.3.1.  No wifi.  I even upgraded the OS via the same about menu.  Still no wifi. 
Is this a glitch or am I doing something wrong?

EDIT:  I changed the WIFI driver setting to Linux Kernel and now I see the wifi.  That is something I've never had to change before or on the 2 RPi's.

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